Over the past three years, the Masan Group has

undergone a drastic metamorphosis. Originally

a Vietnamese family-run food company, it

became an overnight business sensation with a

firm hold in Vietnam’s banking, resources and

fast moving consumer goods sectors when it

brought its new CEO Madhur Maini on board.

Continuing on their mission to grow as a

business, the company wanted to set up an

office in Singapore and sought the help of

design firm M Moser Associates to create a

space that accurately portrays what the

company is about.

“Madhur wanted the space to represent what

Vietnam – and more specifically, Masan as a

business – would be in the future,” says Nirmala

Srinivasa, Design Senior Associate at M Moser.

Considering that it was not too long ago that it

was still a traditional Vietnamese business, it

was also important that the space maintain

some relations to its roots.

Design plays a hefty

role in the positioning of

Masan Group with its

new Singapore office.

The entry into the space was one of the first

issues the design team tackled as they focused

on what visitors would see when they step into

the office from the lift lobby. With minimal staff

to accommodate in the Singapore office, most

of the 4,000sqft space could be used quite

freely. The office spreads out in an expansive

sweep, back dropped by the sumptuous view of

the Marina Bay.

Underlining everything is a quiet, if

considerable, body of water that extends as a

moat around the main conference room.

“Madhur’s question to us was, ‘What would

make the space iconic?’ – something that would

link both Singapore and Vietnam,” recalls

Srinivasa. The idea of the river became a strong

conceptual thread that bound both countries,

with Singapore having been a trading port

which saw the Singapore River playing a

leading role, and the Mekong River in Vietnam

still being a source of livelihood for its people.

The connotations that came with this concept could not be more apt for the project – the river as a source of life and renewal; the river as a fluid, dynamic element. Understandably, there were technical issues to be considered. For one, office building floor slabs are rarely designed to take the weight of a large volume of water. As such, what was originally meant to be a 150mm-deep water body was reduced to a shallow 30mm-deep pool.

“If this thing leaked, it would not just flood this

space, but the way buildings are constructed

with a pocket at the edge, it would flood the

space below as well,” Srinivasa explains.

Needless to say, phenomenal effort went into

making sure that never happens.

In designing the office, M. Moser Associates

with Ziggy Bautista as lead conceptual designer,

was always aware that an Asian identity had to

be incorporated into the design. What is

laudable about its endeavour, however, is that it

deliberately avoids too literal a translation,

choosing instead to capture the spirit of what it

means to be Asian. The symbolic and wholly

poetic body of water is but one example. Also

taking the idea of Asian subtlety on board, the

design team incorporated Masan Group’s logo

as a series of stepping stones on the water as

opposed to blatant logo placement.

The ideas of transparency and privacy also

came into consideration. The design team

proposed glass partitions throughout the office

to emphasise the generous amount of space

available. At the same time, there were other

factors to consider. The Vietnamese culture,

being more conservative, pointed to a need for

some privacy within the office. This resulted in

leather privacy panels on glass partitions, each

one a deconstructed Masan logo that was

stitched together. This effectively provided

privacy but also retained a sense of

transparency throughout the office. residential,

a little more hospitality. The furniture we

selected was very iconic – something you can

imagine putting in your study,” says Bautista,

referring to the sense of familiarity and comfort

the design team was also trying to create.